Ok… so, the suffolk adventure continues.

We have a couple different pieces of new information.

A supplier (not the same as the one I bought from) has informed me that yes, there are grey suffolks, but they are rare and so grey roving/top tends to be limited. This is a supplier I trust fairly implicitly. I may buy some of their “grey suffolk” to compare to mine. Even in the photos it looks nothing like what I have, but a lot more like I’d expect a downs wool to look.

Another supplier (thank you, Helen) says that Suffolk’s are born black and age to white or grey. As best as I can determine this is a conflation of the question, as they are born black (like their legs and head) but as soon as the wool comes in they are white or grey.

Also, Deb Ronson apparently dealt with a similar fiber and came to a similar conclusion about it’s origin.

Being largely raised for meat, we know that suffolk will likely vary quite a bit from fleece to fleece, and possibly even more between white and grey fleeces. However, you usually expect even within variance there to be some standards. Downs wools will be springy, tend to be shorter stapled, have a spiral crimp, etc. Most of the meat breeds tend to be shorter on kemp (though this can be thrown off by the fact they may collect the britch wool along with the rest).

The U.S. breed standard specifies that they must be white and “free of dark fibers, and shading into dark hair or wool.” But that’s U.S. and the suffolk is a worldwide breed. Other associations seem to have similar standards, but I can’t read many of them.

Additionally, there is a “White Suffolk” which is the same, but with white face and feet (the normal suffolk has black face and feet).

So um… information says… stuff!

I still don’t think what I have is suffolk, at least not in the strict sense of the breed. I’m going to try to acquire some other suffolk from trusted sources to compare with it. We shall see!

I’ll keep you updated. For now i’m having a bit of trouble getting fiber dry, as the air here is at 100% humidity (when you walk around, rain drops randomly coalesce on you).

That’s all for now. I’ll let you know when I have more info!

~The Gnome

So, as you may know, there has been a big competition across the pond where men in funny outfits kill themselves on two wheeled contraptions. It’s called the Tour de France.

Anyway, while those crazy people are doing their thing over there, we fiber people do our own crazy thing over here, the “Tour de Fleece.” It tends to be pretty free-form though some people get together for specific challenges and such. Last year my own TdF was more organized.

This year my main goals were to spin every day, even if only a tiny bit, and make progress on some standing projects.

In those generalized goals, I succeeded. One of my specific goals I didn’t make, I wanted to finish spinning the handprepped romney/mohair batts into sock yarn, a project that’s been kind of hanging over me for a long time. Oh well. I did get a lot done.

For one thing, right at the beginning of it I flew down to North Carolina for a family thing. I managed to keep up my spinning at least a yard or two every day, and got a lot of spinning done in the airports. On the plane I started a basic beanie hat with my own handspun.

The hat

And the handspun. Abby Franquemont batts. These are going to be weft for a woven twill weave scarf I’m working on.

Both spun up on my lovely Spindlewood top whorl.

Once I got back, I finished sleying the reed on the loom for the scarf project. I’ll post more photos of the weaving project progress start to finish once I get a few more steps along.

I also spun some cobweb weight from cormo handprepped by the Tsocktsarina.

Spinning it on my newest spindle, a zebrawood spindle called a Tiger by… Cascade bought from Spunky Eclectic as my one purchase at MA Sheep and Wool. Love it. Spins great, especially things like silk for superfine stuff.

Then, right near the end of the Tour, the first of my new roving came back from the mill. Very exciting. Domestic Perendale and Polwarth. Since I’m going to be putting some of the Perendale up in my next shop update, I thought I should spin some myself since it’s a new fiber to me. So I grabbed my Bosworth Midi spun some up longdraw and plied it, washed it, fulled it, and dried it. 3-ply on the left, 2-ply on the right.

3-ply close up

2-ply close up

It’s an interesting fiber. Spun this way it’s a fairly prickly fiber but makes a much softer yarn than you expect. So I went all the way and knit it up, washed it and blocked it. Well, as much as you can block a 1.5″ squarish.

And a closeup. You can see it’s got more luster than your average downs wool. It comes from the Romney in the bloodline. It’s VERY springy and lofty with a big halo. It’s not super soft, about what non-specified “wool” sweaters usually are. So good for anything a mid-level romney would be good for, sweaters, hats, mittens, heavy-duty socks, outerwear, etc.

And that’s about it for my TdF. Other than keeping Gnomespun running, and expanding things slightly and examining a few new possible paths.

TdF 2010

And now, back to the dye pots. Perendale and Polwarth roving. A couple new things coming up!

Until the next time!

~The Gnome

So I’ve had this for a while now (as evidenced by the fact it was filmed at my old apartment).

I keep thinking that I’ll do an addendum to it, or add something or what have you. But I don’t. So… I’ll post it as is. If it needs a new version, or an addendum, then you – dear readers – can tell me what you’d like to see.

So, here’s a small video I made about bottom whorls. Specifically it was meant to address two of the big myths I’ve seen spread about.

1) Bottom whorl spindles are heavy

2) You can’t spin fine on a bottom whorl

There’s also some basic explanation of how to use a bottom whorl, if you’re interested. Personally, I love my bottom whorls. I want to get another at some point, since my big one tends to be full of plying projects as it’s my longest shafted spindle (see earlier post with 4.2oz of icelandic plied onto it).

So, without further ado, here it is. Bottom/low whorl spindles.

Let me know if you have questions, comments, etc!

P.S. Thanks here to Tom, for filming this for me.

That’s all for now…

~The Gnome

This is a little behind, but this is my latest finished spinning project.

It’s a 2-ply yarn, spun largely longdraw on Strider (my Schact-Reeves 30″) and then plied entirely on my bottom whorl Spindlewood.

For anyone curious how much you can fit on a spindle? Well… here’s an answer. This is a 1.5oz spindle to begin with. I have 4.2 ounces of yarn on it. There’s about 3/4″ of bare shaft left. By the end I was using it as a mix of bottom whorl and support spindle (a nice feature of the Spindlewood designs).

So… you can fit as much on a spindle as you can fit, and it’s almost always more than you think you can.

As usual, I don’t know what I’m going to do with this yarn. I spun it to play with Icelandic, which is a new fiber for me. Always new fibers to try. It’s an interesting fiber, and I can see why some people are in love with it! Don’t think it’ll replace others as my favorite fiber, but it’ll definitely have it’s place in my fiber arsenal.

EDIT: Teresa, this was an unpicked Icelandic (that is, thel and tog are together) from a sheep, rather than a lamb. It’s a durable yarn, would be good for a blanket. If you’re not too sensitive you could make knucks out of it. For me it’s a little too coarse for next-to skin. I could see making a heavy barn sweater out of it though. (though not from 4oz obviously).

~The Gnome

Hi guys.

I’m almost done. For realz this time. Just a few signatures left. I was hoping to get one last update to the shop up before xmas, but that is not going to happen. At this rate I’ll be lucky to get everything I have to get done, done in time.

I’ve got boss’ signature on my dissertation and then all the printing and official paperwork left. Then I’m done with that, and all that’s left is getting car insurance and health insurance signed up for/redirected/etc.

In the meantime, here’s a project I finished ages ago, but couldn’t tell you about at the time, and then things got insane.

This was what I did for the Fiber to Scarf Exchange 2009. Basically, you send out fiber, and it goes to someone (you don’t know who until after) and they spin it up and knit (or crochet or weave) a scarf or cowl out of it and send it back. You’ll remember a ways back when I posted the lovely alpaca scarf I got from my fiber.

What I got was some lovely purple/blue corriedale/romney from BlackBunny Fibers. I spun it up on both my ashford and my (at the time) new SR30.

2-ply, spun more-or-less with a point of twist sort-of-short draw.

(Photo by Joe)

I decided to knit without a pattern, because I like torturing myself, or something. Also, I’m really poor at following patterns.

So I designed this pattern, though I’m fairly certain it’s been done before by others. It’s essentially just a 3×3 diagonal rib (not a cabled diagonal like koolhaus or the like). I liked the effect, and think it came out pretty well. It scrunches nicely.

(Photo by Joe)

Here it is on me before I sent it out…

Then I sent it to the awesome QueerJoe (who’s fiber it was, and who took the better photos you’ve seen here)

And he loved it. Thank goodness. I’m always worried when crafting for other people.

Ok, back to forms.

~The Gnome